Was anyone else completely floored by Inglorious Basterds? Asking themselves, "Did Tarantino really write this?" The scenes were so realistic and compelling, without any need to dress it up with humor or violence. The opening scene at the farm, for instance. It wasn't funny but perhaps the best scene I've ever seen in a Tarantino film. The film ended with cartoonish violence and showed we were all duped into actually caring. I thought it would difficult for Tarantino to overcome his puerile tendencies. So along comes Django and it takes five big steps back. No sense of truth, outrageous, crazy, entertaining for sure, but without that needed element of reality to support the audience's entry into a believable world. Without that assurance, we just are watching a stupid though interesting three-hour mess. There is no meaning in this movie, and though it tries to suggest it, it's merely the excuse to show us what the director really cares about. You can guess what that is. It's not anything worth repeating or discussing further. Shame, because Inglorious Basterds showed he had talent. Unless that was a ghost writer..
Review of Django Unchained
